Rogozin Visit postponed by NASA
Rogozin visit was postponed by NASA with no specific date set for the next one. The visit was deferred for Rogozin’saggressive actions whilst in his earlier role as a deputy prime minister of Russia.
Dr. Dmitry Rogozin, the current Director General of the Russian space agency Roscosmos was to address the Rice University and Johnson Space Center in Houston, the coming February 2019. However, NASA’s invitation to the Russian official did not go down well with a few of the Senate members. Rogozin’s aggressive role during the 2014 Crimea annexation, they felt, made him eligible to be barred from entering into the country. They opined that by permitting him to give a talk to students of the country’s premier institutes they would be sending an improper message in the sphere of sanctions and weakens the strength of the country’s basic objectives on national security.
Senators including Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.)and Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) were a few names who strongly opposed the invitation extended to Rogozin by NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine. Menendez warned that a ‘resolution of disapproval’ would have to be invoked by him if the invitation was not revoked.
Rogozin in his previous role had warned of barring entry of American astronauts to the International Space Station by preventing the use of Russia’s Soyuz spacecraft for their movement to and from the International Space Station. However, no action was taken by him further to his threat.
Bridenstine had revealed in an interview a few months earlier about having a good relationship with Rogozin and felt that Rogozin’s previous rhetoric had no substance in it. It was all a political game according to him. He felt that Space was an area that should be independent of all political power-plays on the ground and emphasized that both of them supported the development of a strong relationship between the two in the area of Space.
